Bülent Çelebi founded AirTies in 2004 in Istanbul, Turkey with the intent of becoming the leader of whole-home Wi-Fi that brings high-speed Internet to every corner of the home. AirTies develops and markets wireless technology and devices that deliver 10 HD video streams and 100’s of Mbits of WiFi throughout the home, regardless of size or construction. AirTies wireless technology and cloud-based management software, developed by 150 engineers in Istanbul, has been awarded multiple patents and industry awards in the US and Western Europe. AirTies customers include dozens of market-leading broadband and TV service providers throughout the US and Western Europe.
Bülent Çelebi moved to Silicon Valley with his parents and attended high school, then UC Berkeley studying EECS, as well as the Stanford/AEA executive program. After working as an engineer, he joined National Semiconductor as Marketing Director for Asia based in Hong Kong. He returned to the US and became the driving force behind the technology that enabled multifunction printer/fax/scanner devices. He played an active role in making his company the leader in the 10/100 Mbps Ethernet market. After leaving National Semiconductor, Çelebi served as VP & General Manager at Analog Devices running a successful $250 million division. He later served as the CEO of VC-backed Ubicom, where he developed wireless network processors to connect devices to the Internet (IoT). Çelebi’s success in innovation resulted in his 2002 recognition by Red Herring Magazine of being a “Top 10 Innovator”.
Bülent Çelebi is now particularly active in the entrepreneurship community. He was the first Endeavor high-impact entrepreneur selected from Turkey and serves on the Endeavor Turkey Board. He actively mentors various startups. He is also active in Turkish Entrepreneurship Foundation.